It is great that the stories of the Bible are so integral to children’s curricula. But I am concerned that it often focuses too heavily on exploring what the human characters do.

Consider the story of David and Goliath. Traditional approaches make David the hero, whose behavior is to be imitated. Goliath is the villain and his behavior is to be avoided (if his role is explored at all). The actions of King Saul and the other soldiers (for example, David’s brothers) are also noted as negative examples of fear.

But the main character of this story is too often ignored.

Who is this story really about? Ask David. Whose reputation is David concerned about? How is it that David has so much confidence when everyone around him is terrified? David’s heroic behavior arises from his worldview that sets his beliefs and grounds his values. David knows who the main character…

This is the fourth post in a decision point series on how disciple making teams relate to local churches.

Some disciple making teams implement disciple making movement strategies by directly engaging the lost.

These teams see future workers coming from the harvest field itself. Their job, therefore, is not just to find and disciple people of peace, but to develop people of peace into leaders.

Implications: Raising up workers from the harvest fields significantly increases the likelihood of an indigenous, reproducing movement. However, this requires discernment about which parts of the local culture can be embraced, and which parts need to be redeemed over time.

Key decision: will the disciple making team try to stay ahead of the movement, or will they step to the side?

Encouragement: be a bridge between the emerging movement and existing churches.

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I’ve grown up always thinking about the Great Commission. It’s only over the past few years I’ve realized how incomplete my thinking was on that goal.

“Great Commission” Christians meant missions. It meant going overseas or sending people to go overseas. We were focused on the “all nations” part.

What we need to recapture is the “obey everything” part. THAT is as much a part of the Great Commission as the “going” part.

I want to be serious about two things:

1. Obeying all that Jesus commanded. He has empowered me. The means of obedience is there. It is my intentionality that must kick into high gear.

2. Training others to obey ALL that Jesus commanded. I must constantly set before people the expectation that salvation in Jesus is NOT getting your ticket punched to heaven. Salvation is OBEYING all that HE commanded. And… it’s possible. When that happens, the…

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About three years ago I counseled my daughter and son-in-law when they were developing curricula for that inner city program. They had asked me if some of the materials that were being used overseas could be utilized if they could adapt them for age appropriateness. I provided them with a copy of the “God and Man” material written by Dell and Rachel Schultze for the New Tribes work in the Philippines. I also suggested which lessons might be a priority to use since they needed to reduce the number of sessions. Both had served as volunteers for years, prior to becoming the coordinators and Bryan, was a licensed educator.

The “God and Man” material suggests the following characteristics of God be taught and then explore significant biblical passages to learn to identify them:

God is righteous. He is holy, just, and good. He does not have any sin.